Request deposit from proposal

You can request a deposit from the proposal to collect partial payment upfront. It helps when you need to secure commitment before starting projects, cover upfront costs, or reduce financial risk with new clients.

Deposits at a glance

A deposit is a prepayment the client makes when signing the proposal. The proposal can’t be signed until the deposit is paid. Once paid, the deposit lands on the client’s credit balance — it isn’t a separate invoice or document, it’s money parked on the account that can be used to pay future invoices.

When you set up a proposal with a deposit, you also decide what happens to the rest of the balance. There are two scenarios.

Deposit only — invoice the balance later

1. The client signs the proposal and pays the deposit. The money lands on their credit balance and the proposal is marked as signed, with no invoice attached.
2. When you’re ready to bill, you create the invoice from the signed proposal, edit the final amount if necessary.
3. You apply the deposit credit so the client owes only the remaining balance.

Use this when the final amount or billing date isn’t fixed at signing — for example, an advisory engagement billed by actual hours, or a project where the final invoice goes out after delivery.

Deposit with scheduled invoice

1. The client signs the proposal, pays the deposit, and saves their payment details. The deposit lands on the credit balance.
2. On the date set in the proposal, the invoice is issued automatically.
3. If automatic invoice payment is on, the deposit is consumed first and only the remainder is charged to the saved payment method. If it’s off, the client pays the invoice manually and the deposit is applied at checkout by default.

Use this when you know both the billing amount and the date upfront — for example, you collect 30% on signing and bill the remainder on a specific date once delivery is complete.

Set up deposits

Setting up deposits is possible either when you are working on the proposals template or preparing a proposal for your client. To do this:

1. Go to the Services step of your proposal or template.

2. Select either Tiered packages or List services.

3. In the Payment section:

   • For Deposit requirement, select Yes – collect deposit.
   • For Issue invoice for balance, choose how you want to handle the balance:
     • No – don’t issue invoice — collect only the deposit. You’ll create the invoice later from the signed proposal.
     • Yes – issue invoice — collect the deposit upfront and schedule an invoice for the remaining balance.

4. Add services as line items.
5. At the bottom of the page, select the deposit type and enter its amount.

6. If you selected Yes – issue invoice, set up the invoice details .

7. Continue setting up your proposal. For more details, see how to create proposals .

How the deposit reaches an invoice

The deposit always lands on the client’s credit balance at signing. How it gets applied to an invoice depends on which scenario you chose.

When you invoice later (deposit only)

After the proposal is signed, go to Billing > Proposals & ELs and click Create invoice on the signed proposal. While building the invoice, apply the credit balance — the deposit covers the invoice partially or in full, and the client pays only the remainder.

When the invoice is scheduled inside the proposal

On the date set in the proposal, the invoice is issued automatically. Credit application then depends on the Automatic invoice payment toggle on the Send step of the proposal:

• On — the deposit credit is applied automatically and the remaining balance is charged to the payment method the client saved at signing
• Off — the invoice is issued but not charged. When the client pays it manually from their portal, the Apply credits option is on by default, so the deposit applies automatically unless the client turns it off

When proposal includes multiple or recurring invoices

When a proposal includes more than one invoice (one-time, recurring, or both), the deposit appears in the summary of every invoice. For a recurring invoice, a percentage deposit is calculated from the total of all recurrences, not from a single period. The same Automatic invoice payment rule controls whether the credit is applied automatically to each invoice as it’s issued.